Infinity

Rainbow Dash woke up. Spattering, panting, she sat upright in her bed, bathed in sweat and unable to grasp a clear thought. Her heart was racing, and she could feel something wet on her face. Instinctively, she brushed it away, realizing that she’d been crying during her dream. She forced her eyes to remain open, focusing on the floor in front of her, trying not to let her mind slip away.

She took a long breath. If she counted all occasions during her life when a dream had legitimately frightened her, she wouldn’t even reach a dozen, and almost half of them happened within the past week. Celestia knew why she was suddenly cursed with the inability to sleep peacefully, but one thing was certain, it had to stop. The dreams were a pain to go through, and they also prevented her from properly regaining her much needed strength.

Rainbow Dash blinked. Despite staring at the floor for the better part of a minute, she hadn’t yet spotted the envelope that was lying close to the wall. Grunting, she gave herself another minute to calm down, then she slid off the bed and shuffled towards the article in question, inexpertly picking it up with modest curiosity. As she read the hastily scribbled address on its backside, however, all her tiredness disappeared in a moment’s time, and with sudden rush of adrenaline, she ripped it open, unsheathing a single piece of paper.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

Half a year ago, after you won the Best Young Fliers Competition, I gave you the promise to contact you soon. Six months have passed since then, and I didn’t write you until now. I broke my word, and I’m sorry for that.

I want to be up front with you. You have the talent to become a Wonderbolt. It’s obvious to everypony who has watched your performance, and it’s most obvious to me. I should have contacted you sooner, but I couldn’t. Please, Rainbow Dash, visit me in Cloudsdale. Once we meet, I can answer all of your questions, and, if you want, we can discuss your entry into our team. I’m sorry that I have to let you wait even longer, and that I can’t even tell you why, but I can’t.

If you want to come, please write back, and I’ll let you know time and place for our meeting. I hope that, after everything is cleared up, you will still consider me a friend.

Spitfire

Rainbow fidgeted. A cold feeling erupted somewhere between her shoulders, quickly evolving into a haunting shiver that surged through her entire body, leaving her unable to move a single muzzle, but simultaneously with the urge to jump, fly, wreck things, and waste huge amounts of energy.

Instead, she hesitantly moistened her lips, loosened her grip of the letter and put it onto her bedside table. Slowly, she closed her eyes and leaned onto her bed, trying to comprehend the news.

Everything she had hoped for had just come true, everything. Not only had she straight up been asked to join the Wonderbolts, but she had been asked by Spitfire, her foalhood hero, her biggest idol. Whatever disappointment she may have felt since the competition, it was irrelevant now, marginal in sight of the news she had now received. What mattered a year when she wasn’t even eighteen years old?

And yet, she didn’t want to go. However bright her mind pictured the future, her heart was hurting upon the thought, a silent balk that refused to budge under the rigid waves of logic. It was everything she ever wanted, but now it frightened her. She did not want to join the Wonderbolts. Rainbow repeated this simple fact several times in her head, but no matter how often she thought it, it didn’t start making any more sense.

As the frustration exceeded a threshold, Rainbow moved to the front wall and slammed her head against it. The desired physical impact failed to transpire, however, reminding her that her apartment was in fact made of clouds. She spattered, shook her head and gave the wall a sour look.

She sighed, blinked the moisture out of her eyes, then sighed again. There were only so many things she could do now, and none of them sounded very appealing. Write back and decline the meeting – as if she would just let a chance like this slip away. Go to the meeting – no, as much as she would like to, she couldn’t just ignore how she felt. Do nothing – that was a no-goer right there. Try to figure things out by herself – that may have sounded promising to an outsider, but she knew better than thinking that it would work. Ask somepony else for help – that was probably the only reasonable thing to do.

Upon some thought, Rainbow quickly narrowed the set of options down to two participants. Twilight and Fluttershy made for two fairly tempting alternatives respectively, with both of them being way more invested in this kind of stuff than she was, and both likely considerate enough to keep things private, which was important. Although Fluttershy knew her better than anypony else, Rainbow realized that the thought of asking her foalhood friend was tugging at her pride. Twilight didn’t only knew her for a shorter amount of time, and somehow Dash was less afraid of being judged by her.

Making her decision final, Rainbow did a backflip to get her muscles going, then she leaped and surged right through a window. As the world brightened up around her, so did her mood, and she painted a few loops into the air before heading towards Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash touched the library’s door with a front limb. Straightening her body, she summoned her magic from its every angle. With an alarmingly big effort, she managed to release it in three runs, causing the desired knocking sound. Grimacing, she flexed and unflexed her hoof, trying to dispose of the numb feeling that now resided in it. Pegasi were supposed to practice magic at least once a day, it was necessary to grab things that were too small or bulky to use the mouth for, but Rainbow just couldn’t bring herself to bother. She didn’t need magic for her job, and very rarely in her free time. Consequently, she normally only used it when she absolutely needed to.

The door opened.

“Rainbow?”

“Uh... hi.” Dash smiled sheepishly. “Can I come in?”

Twilight stepped back.

“What’s the matter?”

“I, uhm...” She walked inside. “I got this,” she simply said, pulling the letter from under her wing.

Twilight looked at it for a second, then she made a gesture towards the kitchen.

“Let’s sit down,” she mumbled. Taking the letter in her telekinesis, she dropped it onto the table and started reading. Nervously, Dash sat down opposite to her. It was impossible to guess what Twilight was thinking, but at least she didn’t have to wait long.

“Mhmmh...” Twilight folded the letter and slid it back over the table. “That sounds like good news, but you don’t seem to be happy about it.”

“No, I...” Dash swallowed. It was one thing to admit it to herself, but another thing to admit it to somepony else. She lowered her gaze to the table; it felt easier not to look Twilight into the eyes.

“I don’t want to go.”

“And you don’t know why,” Twilight guessed. Dash nodded.

“Hmmm...” Twilight gave her a long, contemplative look before she answered. “Yea, I think I can help you with that.”

Dash looked up. “You can?”

“Tell me this, Rainbow. As you won the competition...” She made a gesture to the letter. “Did you think your options through?”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...”

Twilight snickered. “Did you consider what was going to happen?”

“Well, I figured I was going to get a letter... like, way sooner than I actually did.”

Twilight nodded. “And then?”

“They’d say I was crazy awesome and ask me to join their team.”

Twilight nodded again. “A plausible expectation after the competition. And then?”

Dash blinked. “What do you mean?”

Twilight laughed. “Oh, Rainbow, you really don’t think a lot, do you? I’m surprised you even decided to come here.”

Dash swallowed. For some reason, this little comment had hurt her way more than it should. Twilight must have read her expression, because she suddenly stopped laughing.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “That was rude.” She lowered her gaze. “Sorry.”

Dash shook her head. “Forget it. Just tell me what I’m missing.”

“Mh...” Twilight bit her lip. “I think you never really thought about what would happen if you became a Wonderbolt. Tell me, if you wrote back now and accepted their offer, how would that change your life?”

Dash frowned. “I’d train with the fastest fliers in Equestria, I’d perform at their shows...” She thought for a moment. “Well, and I’d probably be around them all the time, which means I would have to... oh...”

“...”

“........................crap!” The realization struck her like a jump into a well of ice. “I’d have to leave Ponyville. That’s what I’m scared of.”

Twilight nodded. “You know, we’ve all been wondering about that, ever since you won the competition. Naturally, we didn’t want to say anything to you, but we’ve all been scared of what might happen. Especially Pinkie, she...” Twilight stopped, then she concluded quietly, “She wouldn’t take it well if you left us.”

Rainbow was hovering above her seat, without realizing how or when she got up there. “How could I have missed that?” she was torn between crying out in frustration and laughing hysterically. “How?”

An unresisting force pushed her back down onto her seat. Twilight held her down for a few seconds, before she released her magic.

“I can’t tell you how your brain works,” she said. “But I’m guessing you had this dream for so long that you’ve never actually thought about the new implications since you moved here. From what I’ve heard, you weren’t very happy when you lived in Cloudsdale, so leaving your home probably wasn’t that big of a deal then.”

Dash flinched. It was an understatement. Her life had practically flipped one eighty upon moving to Ponyville.

“Yeah... yeah.”

A pause. Dash had no idea what to say, she numbly stared at the table until Twilight pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Rainbow?”

“...hm?”

“What happened?”

“Huh?”

“In Cloudsdale. What happened? You never told us much about your life before you came here.”

“I...”

... don’t want to talk about it would be the logical thing to say, but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to do it. To her own surprise, she instead found herself saying, “do you promise not to tell the others?”

Twilight nodded.

“Alright, so...” She swallowed. “Do you remember my Cutie Mark story?”

“Yeah.” Twilight frowned. Although she seemed to try, she couldn’t quite keep the reproachful tone out of her voice. “You saved Fluttershy from a duo of bullies. Was that a lie?”

“No!” Dash almost cringed under her friend’s stare. “It really happened like that. It’s just...”

“It’s just?”

“Well, it kinda leaves a wrong impression. It’s crazy unfair towards Flutters to leave out the rest, but she insists that I shouldn’t reveal anything for her sake. She’s...” Dash gulped. “She’s really that selfless. Truth is...” The words seemed to cut into her skin, but she forced herself to finish truthfully. “Ever since the race happened, I was the one being bullied, not her.”

“But you won the race.”

“I know! It doesn’t make any friggin’ sense. These worthless featherbrains should’ve worshiped me after that, but instead they just... kept teasing me. Maybe they realized that I was a much better target than Flutters... or maybe they just needed another target. You know that Flutters almost died...”

“And even these two were considerate enough to leave her alone after they almost killed her?” Twilight guessed.

Dash nodded. “Yea, but it wasn’t just that. You gotta understand that most teenage pegasi in Cloudsdale have never even been on the ground. Almost all of them have Cutie Marks related to flying; and then Flutters comes back up with three butterflies on her flank – that kinda made her famous.”

“So, you switched positions? But both of you left as soon as you could afford it, I assume.”

“Pretty much, yea. Flutters kept talking about this stupid earth pony town she stumbled upon when she fell from Cloudsdale that day...” She gave Twilight a slight grin. “And she had her mind set on moving here. I really didn’t want to, but I really, really didn’t want to leave her, and I couldn’t convince her to go somewhere else either, so I just went along. At least that part turned out well.”

“So, the way you’ve been acting in Ponyville...”

Upon that, Dash winced hard. Keeping her gaze low, she mumbled to the floor, “It’s a facade. I didn’t want to be weak. Ever. Again. I build this reputation so nopony could ever hurt me again.”

A long silence followed. Rainbow was afraid to look up, she didn’t know whether Twilight was sympathetic or angry, and she didn’t know if she could handle it if the latter was true.

“Come here, Rainbow.”

“Huh?”

Dash looked up. She hadn’t even seen Twilight standing up, but before she could even comprehend what happening, Twilight had pulled her into a tight embrace, holding her close, just like Fluttershy had done so many times.

Rainbow gulped. Then she sobbed. Before she knew it, she was crying quietly into Twilight’s soft fur.

“I’m pathetic.” She sniffed. “I’ve lied to all of you how I was awesome my entire life, when in reality I only even survived Cloudsdale because of Flutters, and I failed to ever make it up to her. And now I’m too cowardly to leave you guys, even though I didn’t want anypony to get close to me again. I failed at that too.”

Twilight didn’t say anything, she just held Rainbow until she stopped crying. When she finally freed herself, Twilight didn’t sit down, instead she only took a step back, lifted Rainbow’s chin with a front limb and looked her right into the eyes.

“You are telling me now, aren’t you? That doesn’t seem cowardly to me.” She smiled, and even though Rainbow couldn’t bring herself to return it, just knowing that Twilight didn’t condemn her was an immense source of comfort.

“Plus, I don’t think all of your brashness in just a facade. It may have been at some point, but it has become a part of you. Or are you telling me that you’ve been actively faking who you are everytime you were hanging out with the rest of us?”

“No. I don’t know? I guess not.” brushing her tears off, she tried to make her voice sound more like normal. “I just don’t know. I don’t think, remember? I’ve never really thought about how to act. I was never planing to change. After I moved here, I just... did it.”

“That’s okay, Rainbow. You don’t have to change who you are now. But the other girls should know about it. They’re going to accept you, I know they will.”

Rainbow said nothing, she just nodded. Sliding back on her chair, she dropped her chin onto the table and set her gaze onto nothing.

After a few minutes, Twilight’s voice pulled her back to the surface.

“So... what are you going to do about the letter?”

“Huh?” At this point, Rainbow had forgotten why she’d come here in the first place. “... the letter. Right. Well, I guess I won’t go.”

“This would be a good time to start thinking some more,” Twilight remarked.

Dash flinched. “Uh... I guess I can go and explain things?”

“Unless you don’t want to see Spitfire.”

“Yeah... right.”

“You know,” Twilight said. “It’s really just laziness. You aren’t stupid, you really aren’t. You just don’t take the time to think.”

“Right. I got it.” She swallowed. “Thanks.”

Another silence followed. For Rainbow, this meant more time to mull over their conversation, which was about the last thing she wanted to do at the moment.

“Tell me about something.”

“Huh?”

“Just... tell me about something. Anything. Keep me distracted. You gotta have interesting stuff to talk about, you know...” She made a vague gesture towards the library. “Since you spend the better part of your life reading.” She gulped. “I just... really don’t want to think right now.

“Uhh...” Twilight hesitantly chewed her lip. “Can you be more specific? Otherwise I really don’t know what to say, it might just end up boring you.”

“Well... I dunno. Tell me about magic works. I’ve never been more willing to learn something, and I have no friggin’ clue.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, alright.” Twilight’s voice now had an entirely new tone to it, almost like excitement. “I can’t explain it completely, but I suppose I can give you an overview. Let me think for a moment...” She tapped her chin. “I think we should limit ourselves to unicorn magic, simply because that’s where the majority of research is done in. Or, well, I suppose I can still list the other kinds without going into any detail.” She cleared her throat. “So, there is genetic magic, which all creatures have, in various degrees. There is unicorn magic, which can be considered a sub field of genetic magic. There is alicorn magic. There are the elements. And there’s phoenix magic.”

“Why’s that its own thing?”

“Because it can do things that go far beyond what conventional magic does, or even alicorn magic. In reality, ponies now next to nothing about it. It’s not being explored at all, there isn’t a single book in this library about it, because the entire knowledge ponydom has of it wouldn’t even fill dozen pages. All we do have are summaries of things we have seen it do, but that’s nothing to go on. We know that they defile death, which alone is enough to break every law of conventional magic, because it’s scientifically impossible.” Twilight snorted disapprovingly. “I’m telling you, there was a time when this really bothered me. But anyway...

“How does magic – unicorn magic – work? Well, and I know this will be hard to reenact, but imagine that you have countless streams of thought in your mind at all times, and all are heading in different directions. It’s completely chaotic. But when you focus on them, you can make them behave, so to speak. Align then in certain ways – create certain patterns – and you will create an according kind of energy. Then release it through any part of your body, preferably your horn. In time, you will get an instinct for how different kinds of patterns will cause different kinds of effects.”

“Why can’t pegasi do that?”

“Mh...” Twilight looked at her, and her purple eyes seemed to be carrying an apologetic smile. “You can try. There have been lots of attempts to teach non-unicorns the kind of magic we are using, but it never worked, and almost all common literature deems it impossible. The test subjects could never truly understand what they were supposed to do. My best guess is that the brain just doesn’t work the same way for pegasi and earth ponies. Whatever the case, no earth pony or pegasi has ever been able to perform even the simplest spell... except levitation, that’s just an extended version of the genetic magic that you’re using to grab or push stuff. It’s not unicorn magic.”

Twilight stood up, apparently ordering her thoughts. “So anyway, that all is just the most superficial explanation possible. In truth, it’s immensely complex. And don’t think everypony who can do some spells has to put up with it, most unicorns can just do a little bit of magic that matches their special talent, and that comes per instinct. And even ponies who actively learn magic are often just following guidelines, and tweak their streams until they get it right. There are approximately...” She thought for a moment. “Three dozen unicorns in Equestria who actually, really put up with it. Everyone else is just walking around in the dark. And you can’t blame them, learning magic is, to say the least, difficult. You can spend weeks trying to get a specific pattern to work, only to realize that it doesn’t do anything. And I’m not over exaggerating, it has happened before. That’s really the worst part.”

“Then, what’s the best part?”

“It’s...” Twilight smiled. “It’s the immense possibilities. Even if you devote years to learning magic, you are always just scratching on the surface. If you study to get a certain spell right, you’ll realize on the way just how much other stuff you could do if you just did things a little bit differently. Maybe reuse a lot of parts, but do the main alignment in this different way, of which you can already vaguely estimate how it has to look like. And if you created something, especially if it’s something new, that’s a wonderful feeling. Something out of nothing.”

“So...” Dash felt an unexpected sense of curiosity as she was listening to Twilight’s strangely captivating voice. “What’s the most difficult spell you’ve ever discovered that ended up working? Huh?”

“Hm... there was this one, I was obsessed with it for well over a month, even though I always knew that it wouldn’t even be that useful. But the way it worked was so fascinating, I just had to make it right. And,” she added with a certain amount of pride. “I’m almost certain that I’m the first pony to discover a spell like this.”

Dash blinked. “What is it? Show me. Do you – like – make up names for your spells? Is it called anything?”

“Uhm...” Dash could see a slight blush appearing on Twilight’s cheeks. “... sometimes I do, but I didn’t find a good name for this one.”

“Show me!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll try. But give me some time, it’s a difficult one. In fact, it’s...” She gave Dash a slightly reprehensive look. “The most difficult spell I know, remember?”

“Right. I can be patient. Patience is my middle name. Rainbow Daring Danger Patience Professionalism... right. I’ll be quiet now.”

“Good.”

“...”

“Okay.” Twilight took a long breath. “Okay...” She gulped. “Here goes...”

For a good twenty seconds, Twilight was staring at the table without anything happening, then a glow erupted from the peak of her horn. Twirling, intensifying, it eventually merged into a tiny ball. Next, there was a short, but incredibly swift movement, almost like a blaze, accompanied by a slicing sound that most closely resembled a stick of wood being moved through the air at great speed. Then all was silent.

Rainbow squinted, but nothing seemed to have changed.

“What’d it do?”

Twilight pointed at the edge on her side of the table. Curiously, Rainbow leaned forward. At first, she couldn’t make out what her friend was pointing at, but then she spotted a clean cut in the structure of the wooden object, almost as if somepony had sliced through the overlapping part with a knife. It was so thin, and the cut was so clean, that it wouldn’t hinder the balance of the table in any way, but Rainbow was sure that an immense amount of strength was necessary to slice through solid wood with such ease.

“Woah!”

“I’ve tested this with a rock,” Twilight said. “And it I it worked just as well as it did here. I guess if I ever really need to cut something, it could be useful.”

“And you really didn’t come up with a name? What about ’the slicer’? Ahem.” she cleared her throat. “The mother of all knives, who could cut even a diamond. The slicer. Sounds good, huh?”

“But diamonds are softer than rocks.”

“Whatever.”

Twilight giggled. “Well, it’s decent. Alright, slicer it is.”

“Do you think the slicer could cut through a dragon egg?”

Twilight hesitated. “Maybe,” she said. “Dragon eggs are harder than rock or granite, so I don’t really know. But why does it matter?”

“Just a thought.”

“Mhh...” Twilight smiled. “You know, we haven’t really ever talked like this before. It’s nice.”

“Heeheh...” Dash rubbed her forehead. “Y-yeah...”

“Even though I did most of the talking.”

“Hey, it’s fine, I don’t mind listening. Well, not to you, anyway.”

“Thanks.” Twilight chuckled, but suddenly paused. “Mhh...” She hesitated, giving Rainbow a long and contemplative look. “You know... there might be another spell I could show you...”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“It’s... well-” For some reason, a slight shade of pink appeared on her cheeks, as she seemed to be struggling to get the right words out. “You, uh... you like cider, don’t you?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“Mhmhh... several years ago, when I still lived in Canterlot, there was one time when I worked on a spell for almost thirty hours straight, without having any food or sleep in between. When the princess found out, first she forced me to have a three day break, but afterwards she instructed me to learn this new spell. I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I did my research and studied until I got it right. By that time, I of course knew what it did, so when the Princess told me to try it, I... well, it didn’t sound like something that would be fun on my own, so I waited until my brother had one of his days off, and I convinced him to try it with me.”

“But what does it do?”

“It’s a mind modification spell. It temporarily puts your mind at a state which is similar to when you’re... you know, drunk, but it’s...” Her blush intensified. “Better.”

“Oh.”

“Well, so, Shining and I tried it, and it was really amazing. It didn’t last very long, but the day after it, I could focus on my work as if I had just come back from resting my mind for weeks. It’s really relaxing. But Shining didn’t want to try it again after the first time, he said it was... mhh...” Her lips twitched. “... inappropriate in his position. Since then, I only got him to do it once, that was a few months before I moved here. And doing it alone is... not very fun. It can even be scary.” She cleared her throat. “So... what do you think?”

“Yeesh, that sounds... great?” Rainbow gave her a skeptical glance. “I’d totally be up for trying it, but doesn’t it have... y’know, some really uncool long term consequences? I’d hate to turn my brain into applesauce.”

“As long as you don’t do it more than once in the spawn of, say, three weeks, it’s not going to affect your health in any way, psychical or physical.”

“Ya sure?”

Twilight nodded. “I wouldn’t try something like that without researching it carefully. I’ve even asked Princess Celestia and she confirmed it, but she also said that it’s socially frowned upon, just like other drugs. Ponyville is fairly tolerant in that regard, but it’s probably still not something to write home about.”

“And you don’t care about that?”

Twilight grimaced. “Not really. Do you?”

“You’re kidding?” Dash smirked. “Socially frowned upon my flank. If it’s not dangerous, I’ll totally give it a shot. Heck, I could use some relaxation, I’ve had some really mind wrecking dreams lately.”

“Oh? That’s funny, I’ve been having bad dreams too. It’s untypical. But doing this might actually help.”

“Alright.” Dash stood up and flapped her wings in anticipation. “Where should we go?”

“Upstairs, I think. I just need to hang in the closed sign first.”

Dash blinked. “Oh, right. This is a public library. I keep forgetting that every time I’m here.”

Twilight giggled. “That’s because you never come here to lend books. Alright.” She closed the door shut and gave Dash a slight nudge. “Let’s go.”

Dash followed her upstairs, then she stood there, unsure what to do next.

Twilight gave her a warm smile. “Just lie down,” she said, pointing at the same bed Rainbow had once shared with Rarity. “And relax. I need a moment to remember the specifics...”

“Uhm...” Rainbow crawled onto the covers and stretched her limbs out, trying her best to be comfortable. It wasn’t easy, she rarely ever stayed in one place for long, except when she was napping.

“If you say you have to remember specifics...” She didn’t quite manage to keep a concerned undertone out of her voice. “Does that mean it could also go wrong?”

“I’ve never hurt anypony except myself with a poorly executed spell,” Twilight answered. “But it’s possible; it’s always possible if you’re using magic. It’s just a question of whether or not you trust me. I’d say it’s extremely unlikely.”

Dash gulped. “I trust you.”

“Alright.” Twilight climbed on the bed, sitting down next to her. “I’ll have to do you first, for obvious reasons.”

“Right. Ahem, how long is it going to last?”

“About two hours, I think.”

“What if Spike comes in?”

“Then Spike comes in.” Twilight smiled reassuringly. “I’ll tell him to leave, and then he’ll leave. I’m responsible for him, Rainbow, not the other way around.”

“Right. Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Go ahead.”

“Okay. It won’t take long. You can close your eyes if you want.”

Rainbow closed her eyes. After a few moments, she could feel something cold touching her on her head, then in her head. It stayed there for a few seconds, then it left.

“That was it,” she could hear Twilight’s voice whisper. Although she couldn’t see it, Rainbow knew that Twilight was repeating the same process on her herself.

She took another deep breath, waiting for something to happen. So far, everything seemed to be normal, but Twilight hadn’t said anything about how long it would take for the spell to take effect. As more and more time went by, Rainbow’s mind drifted off, and she started remembering bits from her youth in Cloudsdale. There was one time, when one of the students in her class had loosened a piece of cloud from the floor directly in front of the teacher’s desk. When he stepped onto it, he literally cast a hole into the ground and fell down to the lower level. Heh... Fluttershy had been so scared back then. Hehehe...

“Heheheeeheeee... heheeee...”

Rainbow blinked. She realized that she was actually laughing, and also that she hadn’t even noticed the spell’s effect kicking in. A grin formed on her muzzle. Everything around her had calmed down, it was as though she didn’t have to worry about anything. She barely knew where she was, nor did she care, all she knew was that she had never been this careless before. It took another moment until she realized that, even though she was laughing for no apparent reason, she didn’t feel embarrassed about it the slightest. In fact, she felt great, and laughing seemed like a fun thing to do right now.

“Hehehe...... heheheheheeeeee...” she giggled uncontrollably. “Hehe... oh Twilight, this is amazing. I can’t believe I’ve... hahaha.... I’ve never done that.. hehehe... done that before. Hahahahahahahaha...”

“Uh, Rainbow?”

“Whatisittwilight?” Rainbow lazily turned her head towards her friend. Then she blinked. “Heytwilightyourepurple. Thatssuchafunnycolor. Hehehehehehe..... snnnnkt... hahahahahahahaha.”

“Uwww... I think I might have underestimated how much more sensitive pegasi are towards mind manipulation. I kept you under effect a few seconds less than myself, but it seems like it was still too much. I think I might have given you an overdose...” She smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry.”

“Nah, dontworry about it.” The urge to laugh had stopped, so instead Rainbow just grinned, occasionally stiffing a giggle. “Ithinkilikethisspellevenmore than the slicer. Hehe... hey, doyou think theslicerwould like themindtwirl? Theycouldtotally go on afriggindate together andmakelittlemindslicer babies. Butidontthink Iwould liketousethem... I bet theywould be... hehehe... pointy. Hahahahaha.”

The urge to laugh came back, and this time Twilight joined her. Rainbow had no idea for how long both of them kept it up for no other reason than that it felt good, but at some point her throat went sour, and she she rolled around until she bumped against something.

“Mhh... you’re fluffy,” Rainbow mumbled, burying her muzzle as deep into the fur as possible.

“Thanks.”

“Mhmmmmm.... mmmhhhhhmmmmffff... twiddyahveanyfiendsincnterlt?”

Twilight chuckled. “Come again?”

“Mfffffffffff....” Rainbow gave her muzzle just enough space for her voice to be slightly less slurred. “Didyahave anyfriends incanterlot? Yknow, beforyoucamehere and metus?”

“Mh... mh... ... no.”

“Really? Nopony?”

“No. I had my brother, but other than that... no, I was always alone.” She let out a small sigh, so quiet that Rainbow almost thought she had imagined it. “Most other ponies were really nice and even asked me to join them for parties and stuff... but I always made up excuses. I preferred staying home and studying.”

“... thatsounds sad.”

“Yea it...” Twilight gulped. “It kind of was. Well, I wasn’t actively sad, but I definitely wasn’t happy. My life fully revolved around magic, everything I cared about was magic, everything I did was learning magic. The only exception was...”

“Your brother.”

“Yeah. But he isn’t home very often.”

“Mh... Twi, has anypony evertold you that youhave an incredible voice?”

“No.”

“Well, you do, no kidding. And I don’t saythis to everypony... heh...”

“So that’s why you were so willing to listen,” Twilight said, sounding amused.

“Partofit iguess...”

She yawned.

“Twi, doesthis spell also makeyou tired?”

“A little bit. I never fell asleep during the effect, but it you got a really big portion, so it may knock you out.”

“Mfff....” Rainbow mfff’ed. “Mhhhh...”

She didn’t bother saying anything else, she just kept her eyes closed and her head leaning against the soft and warm pillow. For a few moments, time seemed to stay still; when she rolled around again, she could see the whole world stretching out beneath her. She felt too drowsy to fly, so she just clutched to the cloud she was lying on, forcing it to move with nothing more but her will.

With incredible speed, but without any physical effort, she was soaring above the landscape, all the while smiling happily. When she came by a pair of monstrous, yet peaceful mountains, she glided lower and found a dreamy lake directly in between them, with water so clear that she could see every single blade of grass on the ground. Without giving it a second thought, Rainbow slid off her cloud and fell down, closer and closer towards the surface...

She opened her eyes. Her vision was still covered by fur, so she rolled around until she could see again. The effects of Twilight’s spell hadn’t yet left her completely, but at least she was able to properly formulate thoughts again.

“Twi, you’re awake?”

Twilight opened her eyes, blinking. “Yeah.”

“Sorry for passing out.”

“Nah, it’s my fault.” She smiled crookedly. “Sorry for the overdose.”

“Heh, no problem. It was fun.” Dash yawned. She still felt completely comfortable, and not in the least ashamed of her actions earlier.

“Mhh... I’m still feeling your spell, but most of it is gone, so I guess it’s all out for you?”

“No, actually the intensity doesn’t directly influence the duration.” Twilight chuckled. “It’s... hehe... it’s a percentile descent. It’ll probably last for both of us about equally long.”

“Mhhhff...”

A pause.

“Hey, Rainbow?”

“Mhmhh?”

“Do you think Pinkie Pie... likes you?”

“Mmmmhhhhhhh...”

“She’s... you know, pretty cheerful around all of us five, but the most whenever she’s with you. It’s something I noticed recently.”

“... mmmhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmcouldbe.” Rainbow yawned again. “I hope not. I have no idea how well she’d take a rejection. I’ve noticed it too, but it doesn’t have to mean anything. It’s Pinkie... mhhff... Pie, that girl might just be excited because my mane reminds her the... mhh... rainbow that got her the balloons onto her butt.”

“Yeah, could be.” Twilight smiled, but only for a moment, then her expression became severe, almost anxious. “Rainbow... I know you said that you aren’t going to leave now, but are you... you know, going to leave at all? Even if you don’t join the Wonderbolts now, chances are they might hold the spot open for you.”

“Yeah, huuuh... they can if they want, but as long as the rest of you girls are here, I’m not going to leave.”

“I’m... happy you said that.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve no reason to leave,” Twilight said without hesitating. “At least not while the rest of you five are here. This place is everything I always wanted. I think there’s... mhh... only one of us who might leave anytime soon.”

“Dresses,” Rainbow stated drily.

“Yes. But you should know that Rarity wants to stay as much as any of us, she just has the most reason to go elsewhere... well, maybe except for you. But if it weren’t for us, she would’ve left Ponyville a while ago.”

“Yeah... sweet girl.”

“You’re spending the least time with her, aren’t you?”

“Uh. Huh.” Rainbow blinked. “Yeah, kinda. But I still love her. If she’d stop fuzzing over me everytime I get near the boutique, maybe I’d visit her more often.”

Twilight snickered. “You can’t blame her, Rainbow. She’s probably never seen another pony with a mane like yours. For her, having you modeling must be a dream come true.”

“Eh. Yea, that’s kinda understandable. I’d probably want me to model for me if I was her.”

Both of them laughed, but at the same time, Rainbow could feel that her visit was coming to a close. The spark that had been between them ever since her breakdown was leaving, and reality was catching up with her.

“Hmmmmhhh... Twi? Have I distracted you from doing egghead stuff today? I’ve no real clue under what kind of schedule you’re working.”

“I could take a two weak break if I wanted, and I wouldn’t get in trouble for it, if that’s what you’re afraid of,” Twilight said. “I do work a lot, but it’s pretty much left to myself how or when I do things. I take breaks when I feel like it’s worth it. Your visit today was important, so don’t worry. That reminds me...” She slid off the bed and stood shakily on four hooves. “Do you want me to write an answer to you?”

“Huh? Oh, the letter. Yea, that’d be great. Mh...” She rolled around, and buried her face in the pillow. “... do you mind if I keep lying here for a while?”

“No, of course not.” A few moments passed, and Dash could only guess that Twilight was summoning a quill and a piece of paper from downstairs.

“So... I’ll try to make it look good. I don’t actually write very pretty most of the times, but it’ll still look better than hoofwriting. What should it say?”

“Mhhh.... mhhhhffffff... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmfffffffffffff......................... I’m not sure I should even write it in my current condition,” she muffled. “Alright, just go with, ’Thanks for the letter, it was totally swell and fluff. We’re still friends, duh. I’ll be there, greetings Rainbow Dash’. That should do it. Yeah.”

Twilight giggled. “How about, ’Dear Spitfire, thanks for writing me. I still consider you my friend, and I’ll gladly visit you in Cloudsdale. Until then, best regards, Rainbow Dash.’”

“Uh. Uh-huh. Yeah. Sounds good.”

The scribbling of Twilight’s pen could be heard, and Dash did her best to caress the covers for as long as it lasted. When it stopped, she let out one last yawn before sliding off the bed, only to be overwhelmed by a sudden wave of dizziness, leaning back against it to remain balance.

Twilight watched her with a trace of guilt. “I’ve never been under a mindtwirl that was as strong as yours,” she said, while Dash was teetering dangerously. “But I don’t think the aftermath will last long.”

“Don’t... worry about it.” Dash blinked several times and stretched her front limbs experimentally. “I’ll be fine.”

“Do you want me to send the letter for you?”

“Nah, just hoof it over, I’ll fly by the mail on the way back.”

“Alright.” Twilight folded the letter once and floated it over to Rainbow. “So, you’re leaving?”

“Yeah.” Twilight made a step towards to entrance, but Dash just grinned and stepped onto the balcony instead. “Thanks for everything Twi, you helped me a ton. And thanks for the mindtwirl, that was pretty awesome.”

Twilight smiled. “Anytime.”

“Alright.” Dash flapped her wings and took off. “Smell ya later.”

And she was gone.